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tructional
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BY JIM KNIGHT

PREVIEW
Instructional coaches collaborate
with teachers to help them use
proven practices.
Coaches model teaching in classrooms and help teachers identify
when to implement interventions.
Principals work with instructional
coaches to strengthen their own
knowledge and identify teachers
who will receive the greatest
benefit from coaching.

Jim Knight (jknight@ku.edu) is the project director of

Pathways to Success at the University ofKansas Center
for Research on Learningin Lawrence, KS.

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PL MAY 2005

When I was a principal, I wanted so much to have an impact

on how my teachers taught. As I was talking with teachers or
observing them, I'd think how much I wished I had the time
to give these teachers the kind of support they need. If I had
had an instructional coach in my school, I could have done
that....When I see a coach and principal work well together,
the coach is really an extension of the principal-the coach
makes it possible for the principal to truly be an instructional
leader.
-Doris
Williams, A Harford County (MD) Department of
Education Hall of Fame Principal and director of the
Passport to Success Program in Anne Arundel County, MD
The pressure to improve the quality of instruction in
schools may be higher today than at any other time in the
history of U.S. education. To respond to this urgent demand, schools across the nation are hiring instructional
coaches (ICs) although there is little published research that
shows what works and what does not work when it comes
to instructional coaching. This lack of information about instructional coaching puts principals and districts at risk. If
principals and other decisionmakers do not understand exemplary coaching practices, they risk spending precious dollars on instructional coaching programs that have little or no
effect on student achievement.
Over the past six years, researchers from the Kansas Uni-

versity Center for Research on Learning (KU-CRL) have been studying ICs who work
in two programs: Kansas University's Pathways to Success project and the Maryland
Department of Special Education's Passport to Success project. Pathways to Success,
which is funded by the U.S. Department of Education's GEAR UP program, has been
implemented in nine middle level and high schools in Topeka, KS, and Passport to
Success has been implemented in five middle level schools in Anne Arundel County,
MD. In my capacity as the project director of Pathways to Success, I have identified
seven common questions about instructional coaching and here is what the researchers
have learned from studying these two instructional coaching programs.

What Is an Instructional Coach?

An IC is an on-site professional developer who teaches educators how to use proven
teaching methods. ICs use a repertoire of effective instructional practices to collaborate
with teachers, identify practices that will effectively address teachers' needs, and help
teachers implement those practices. ICs use a variety of professional development procedures to encourage the widespread, high-quality implementation of effective teaching practices, including holding one-to-one or small-group meetings during which ICs
can identify how to address their most pressing concerns; guiding teachers through
instructional manuals, checklists, and other materials; collaboratively planning with
teachers to identify when and how to implement effective instruction practices;
preparing materials for teachers prior to instruction; modeling instructional practices
in teachers' classrooms; observing teachers when they use interventions; and providing
feedback to teachers (Knight, 2004).

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DEVELOPING

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Why Invest in Instructional Coaching?

Research from Pathways to Success and Passport to Success
suggests that there are at least three important reasons why
coaching can be a good option for school improvement efforts. First, coaching leads to implementation when the Tight
conditions are in place. In both projects, well-constructed
coaching programs have consistently generated implementation rates of at least 85%, with schools frequently getting
every teacher to use several effective instructional practices.
Recent implementation rates after teachers had attended
summer workshops reveal that within six weeks of the start of
school, 85% of the Pathways to Success teachers (70 out of
82) were already implementing practices from at least one of
the workshops. In contrast, Showers and Joyce (1996) suggest
that traditional inservice with no follow-up is likely to have
no better than a 10% implementation rate (see figure 1).

[Figure 1]
Percentage of teachers supported by coaches implementing interventions within six weeks of workshops compared to the implementation rate for traditional inservice.

90- -

80- _

60-______
____
Percent

(%)4

XD1Il

middle level students (n=562) in "low-fi" classrooms (where

teachers left out major components of the teaching practices
outlined in instructional manuals). The results showed that students in hi-fi classrooms improved the number of complete
sentences by 13% (from 74% to 87%) and students in low-fi
classrooms improved by 4% (from 76% to 80%) (see figure 2).
To better understand how ICs help teachers, researchers
recently conducted a survey of teachers who had watched an
IC from KU-CRL provide a model lesson in Pathways to
Success schools. As figure 3 illustrates, teachers stated that
watching an IC made it easier for them to implement a
given teaching practice, increased their fidelity to the instructional model, increased their confidence, and enabled
them to learn other teaching techniques. From the teachers'
perspective, watching a coach in the classroom was an important part of professional learning.
A third benefit of instructional coaching is that it promotes positive conversations in schools. By providing support to teachers and changing the type of conversations that
take place in schools, ICs make an important contribution
to school reform. As Perkins (2003) has observed, encouraging positive, or what he refers to as "progressive," conversations in schools is difficult but very important:
"In times of stress, while cognitive load is high, behavior
tends to regress toward simpler earlier-learned behaviors.
And it's hard to be progressive when the other guy is
being regressive. Both progressive and regressive practices stimulate their own kind." (p. 247)
Through healthy, empathetic conversation, ICs help teachers
move away from regressive interactions in which personal
responsibility is reflected mostly through blaming external
factors such as parents or administrators (Fisher & Frey,
2003) to progressive interactions that involve "effective
knowledge processing... [and] the kind of symbolic conduct
that builds cohesiveness, trust, and commitment" (Perkins,
2003, p. 29).

What Should ICs Teach?

Implementation Rate
F Traditional Inservice

Instructional coach

Second, ICs can also increase teachers' fidelity to scientifically proven instructional practices. Pathways to Success recently studied the importance of fidelity by comparing the
results of middle level students (n=1,302) in what is referred
to as "hi-fi" classrooms (where teachers used practices that
were close to those outlined in instructional manuals) with
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The intense pressure to foster significant improvements in

student achievement can lead some leaders to promote
many school improvement efforts within a single year.
However, promoting too many interventions can actually
be counterproductive. According to Conner (1992), most
people embrace some change in their life, but as the number of changes multiplies and as the time demands increase,
people approach a dysfunction threshold, a point where
they lose the capacity to implement changes. For this reason, principals and coaches must carefully choose what
changes they initiate and focus on high-leverage interventions that are likely to have a significant positive effect on
students' and teachers' lives. In the Pathways to Success
program, teachers' needs are viewed as a hierarchy that is
similar to Maslow's hierarchy of needs. As a result, the

..

professional development is organized around teachers' and

students' most-pressing needs.
ICs start by helping teachers address classroom management issues. For learning to take place, teachers must first
be able to keep the classroom a safe and productive learning
community for all students. After the classroom has become
well managed, ICs focus.on content. ICs help ensure that
teachers are teaching the right content and that they have a
deep, correct understanding of the content standards. ICs
*then proceed to collaborate with teachers to develop a rich
repertoire of teaching tactics to ensure that students master
the content. These tactics include such practices as advance
organizers, effective modeling, constructive feedback, effective questioning, and scaffolding instruction.
ICs also work with teachers to develop assessment literacy. Teachers obviously benefit from knowing whether or
not their students are learning content. In addition, students
become motivated when they know how well they are doing, when they receive frequent constructive feedback on
their progress, and when they are involved in assessing their
own learning.
Once teachers have their classrooms under control, are
clear on their content and content standards, use instructional basics fluently, and are assessment literate, they then
can continue to collaborate with ICs to enhance instructional proficiency.

What About Skills?

ICs need a deep understanding of the interventions they are
sharing with teachers. In Pathways to Success, ICs receive
ongoing and extensive professional development in the interventions they are sharing with teachers. In addition, personal qualities are very important: How a coach goes about
working is just as important as what a coach knows.
Experience has shown that effective ICs must be master
teachers who are comfortable going into any classroom and
love having the chance to work with other teachers. Simply
put, no matter how much ICs know, they won't,win over
teachers unless they can be successful in the classroom. An
IC needs to have energy and a positive outlook, and he or
she must be the kind of person that others enjoy being
around. As one IC commented, coaches need to be "respectfully pushy." Most important, at their core, ICs must
continually communicate their deep, honest belief in teachers-even when they are talking about specific ways that
teachers need to improve their teaching practices.

How Do Principals and ICs Work Together?

ICs have the greatest impact in schools where the principal
and the IC work together in partnership. This partnership is
manifested in several activities. First, ICs and principals must
be in agreement about the nature, potential, and effectiveness
of the interventions a coach brings to a school. In some

[Figure 2]
Percentage Improvement in number of complete sentences written
by students inhi-fi and low-fi classes.
I14

13,
12 -

'10

8-

Percent

(%)
6-

;4.,
4-

2-

low-fi

hi-fi

IC Total Percentage Improvement

cases, the principal already has a deep understanding of the

interventions and what they should look like in the classroom; the principal might even be the primary mover behind
the initiative being implemented by the IC. In other cases,
the principal is one of the first people the IC educates.
Pathways to Success has developed tools that help principals quickly learn about the numerous interventions that are
available. Because most principals do not have time to sit
through extensive, detailed explanations, Pathways ICs have
prepared Strategies at a Glance, which are one-page summaries of the various interventions, to make it easier to learn
about the interventions. ICs often start to explain the various
routines and strategies by sharing these materials with principals. In addition, ICs can share checklists that summarize the
important teaching behaviors in the teaching routines and
the learning strategies that teachers might be using.
Principals and ICs should also work together to identify
the teachers who can most benefit from the IC's services.
From their vantage point as administrators, principals can
PL MAY 2005

19

DEVELOPING

WAIWAR"altell. '14, .

in their classrooms. I give them feedback. Sometimes support is just showing that things are happening even
when the teachers are too close to the
class to see it."

^4,

What Is the Theory?

The unfortunate reality is that ICs and
principals can employ all of the tactics
and methods outlined in this article
and stil fail if their change initiative is
not based on sound principles. As the
founding vice president of the Covey
Leadership Center says "The principles
you live by create the world you live
.RS
;
in; if you change the principles you
live by, you will change your world"
(Lee, 1997, p. 7)
ICs in the Pathways to Success and
Passport to Success projects receive extensive and ongoing professional development in what is referred to as the partnership approach
(Knight, 2002), which gives conversations a central role in
professional learning and embodies seven key principles:
* Equality: Teachers and ICs are understood to be equal
partners.
* Choice: Participant choice is implicit in every communication about content and in the process used to learn the
content.
* Dialogue: ICs collaborate with teachers in conversations
that allow the teacher and the IC to think and learn together.
* Praxis: Teachers and ICs creatively adapt, shape, and plan
how to use interventions.
-_

identify teachers' true instructional needs and can respectfully encourage teachers to work with their ICs. At the same
time, from their vantage point as professionals collaborating
with teachers, ICs can offer principals another perspective
on what is happening in the school.

How Can Resistance Be Overcome?

In some cases, teachers don't resist change as much as they
resist poorly designed change programs. According to Csikszentmihalyi (1993), the history of technological change
shows that the changes people embrace generally share two
qualities: They are more powerful than older technologies
and they're easier to use. Csikszentmihalyi states that the
ideas, values, and technologies "that do the job with the
least demand on psychic energy will survive" (p. 178). In
other words, an appliance that does more work with less effort is preferred. If something is easier, if it does more, people embrace it. ICs believe that the same notion holds true
for educational interventions and share interventions that
are proven to work and that address the real challenges a
teacher faces. The fact that these interventions help teachers
help students increases the likelihood that teachers will
adopt them.
However, even a powerful program is not likely to be
adopted if it is difficult to implement. Interventions catch
on and spread when they are powerful and easy to implement. This is where ICs become very important. The IC's
job, in large part, is to make it as easy as possible for teachers
to implement a given intervention. As IC Devona Dunekack
from Eisenhower Middle School in Topeka, KS, observed,
"As a coach, I do whatever I can to provide support. I make
copies. I get them transparencies if they need them. I model
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PL MAY 2005

[Figure 3]
Teachers' perceptions of the value of observing coaches providing
demonstration lessons.

Que-stiors

E.ean

Does watching coaches demonstrate

lessons make it easier to implement
the interventions?
Do teachers think watching a coach
model practices increased their fidelity
to instructional practices?
Do teachers think watching a coach
model practices made them more
confident about implementing?

scale fromscore
1.00 on
to a7.00

6.51

6.4

6.13

* Voice: Teachers and ICs know they are free to express

their opinions about the teaching techni,ques they are
learning.
* Reflection: Professional learning involves numerous opportunities for participants to consider the practical implications of the new ideas that teachers and ICs explore.
* Reciprocity: Coaches value the participants' perspectives
and abilities to invent useful new applications of the content that they are exploring.

In Conclusion
Instructional coaching is not a quick fix, but when it comes
to creating an exemplary faculty, quick fixes are rarely the
answer. Instructional coaching involves dedicated, persistent,
meaningful collaboration among teachers, coaches, and principals. When highly qualified ICs are in place, when they
focus on the right teaching methods, and when they take a
partnership approach, real improvement can happen. Most
principals find it difficult to find the time to do everything
they need to do to support the professional growth of their
teachers. However, when an IC and a principal work together in a true partnership, the IC can significantly help a
principal with the challenging, time-consuming, and important work of developing an exemplary faculty. PL

References
O Conner, D. (1992). Managingat the speed of change: How resilient
managerssucceed andprsperwhere othersfaiL New York Villliard Books.
O Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1993). The evolving self A psychologyfor the
thirdmillennium. New York HarperCollins.
LI Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2003). Finger pointing. PrincipalLeadership 5(1), 40-46.
O Lee, B. (1997). The power principle: Influence with honor. New

York: Simon & Schuster

o Knight, J. (2002). Thepartnership learningfieldbook.Lawrence, KS:
University of Kansas University Center for Research on Learning.
1 Knight, J. (2004, Spring). Instructional coaches make progress
through partnership: Intensive support can improve teaching. Journal of Staff Development 25(2), 32-37.
a] Perkins, D. (2003). KingArthurs round table. NewYork: Wiley.

Showers, B., & Joyce, B. (1996). The evolution of peer coaching.

EducationalLeadership,53(6), 12-16.
Author's note: More infornation aboutICs can befound on the
Kansas University Centerfor Research on Learning's Web site at
www.instructionalcoach.org.Foradditionalinformation on the partnership approach, visit www.ku-crl.org/partnership to download thefree
Partnership Learning Fieldbook, which offers a detailed description of
the partnershipprinciples.

PL MAY 2005

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TITLE: A Primer on Instructional Coaches

SOURCE: Principal Leadership (Middle Sch Ed) 5 no9 My 2005
WN: 0512107206004
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